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UK house prices show first monthly fall since Jan 2013-Halifax

UK house prices finish 2013 on a weak note, according to new Halifax figures

British house prices fell unexpectedly last month in their first drop since the start of 2013, easing some pressure on a fast-rising market.

But they are likely to rise further in 2014, mortgage lender Halifax has said.

UK house prices rose strongly in 2013, boosted by rapidly falling unemployment, greater economic confidence and schemes from the government and the Bank of England to revive mortgage lending and construction after the financial crisis.

But Halifax, part of Lloyds Banking Group, said property prices finished the year on a weaker note.

House prices dropped by 0.6% in December, causing the year-on-year rate of house price growth to slow to 7.5% from November's six-year high of 7.7%.

None of the economists polled by Reuters before the data said they had expected a monthly fall in house prices. Halifax revised down November's price increase to 0.9% from aninitial estimate of 1.1%.

Halifax's data also showed slower growth than data from rival mortgage lender Nationwide, which reported a 1.4%rise in house prices in December to give an annual increase of 8.4%, the biggest in more than three years.

However, Halifax said it still expected house prices to risein 2014 by around 4-8%, and some UK economists think they could rise faster.

The UK government was criticised by many economists for extending its Help to Buy scheme in October to make it easier for home-buyers to get mortgages with a 5% deposit, something the government hopes will spur construction.

In November, the Bank of England announced it would scrap the aspect of its Funding for Lending Scheme that offered banks cheap finance if they increased mortgage lending. Central bank data for that month showed lenders approved the greatest number of mortgages since 2008.

But Halifax does not expect prices to get out of contro lbecause weak wage growth should limit buyers' purchasing power.

Halifax said the average property price was £173,467 sterling in December, equivalent to 4.7 times average annual earnings for a full-time male employee.

Ellis said that recent price rises were also likely to tempt more home-owners to sell, boosting supply and limiting further price gains.

In another sign of the fragility of consumer demand, data from the British Retail Consortium released earlier today showed that high-street stores were engaged in the biggest pre-Christmas discounting on record.